


Omgtwr Oneshots!

by jusains



Series: Oh My God They Were Roommates [2]
Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27603704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jusains/pseuds/jusains
Summary: sometimes you accidentally get so attached to side characters from your own fanfiction that you get the sudden urge to write oneshots about them from their pov and that's exactly what happened herethey can all be read separately! (and I suppose if you dgaf you can also read them without having read omgtwr)
Relationships: Bill/Chad, Frarlotte, Stu/Steve
Series: Oh My God They Were Roommates [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018090
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	1. Stu And Steve

It does get lonely on the road.

Stu has been driving around on his own for about three weeks and he can’t deny that he’s more than excited for Steve to come and join him.

He’s so excited, he would even give Steve full control of the stereo and let him put on his horror fiction podcasts.

You can only listen to the same playlist so much after all.

Stu should have made a better playlist. Or more playlists, so he can switch.

At some point he stopped singing along because he began to hate every single song and eventually he just turned it off completely. Then he was all alone with his thoughts and it got really boring.

You see, the roadtrip is fine, it’s just not what Stu imagined.

The mattress in the back of the vw camper isn’t as comfortable as Stu pretended it was in the beginning and the AC doesn’t really work and every time he hits the brakes, the camper lets out a noise that reminds Stu of a dying pterodactyl.

The camper used to be his dads.

He told Stu about it after Stu mentioned wanting to do a road trip.

It had just been standing in the garage for years and there was some stuff they had to renew but now it drives perfectly fine.

At least that’s what Stu keeps telling himself as the fear of the engine dying and him stranding at the edge of the road all alone grows.

* * *

He makes it to the train station an hour early and spends the time until Steve’s train arrives with reading.

Stu is nervous, for some reason.

He doesn‘t really know why but he is.

He doesn’t have a reason to be nervous, he thinks.

He has known Steve since kindergarten and if someone were to ask him if he has a best friend, maybe he‘d even name Steve (even though Stu doesn‘t like the idea of a ‘best’ friend, he loves all of his friends a lot)

But he can’t deny that he does know Steve the best, they basically grew up together.

They didn’t spend as much time together in the past year as they used to.

Stu misses how they were sometimes. Of course he’s glad that they didn’t loose contact completely and he was happy for Steve when he got together with Beth because she seemed to make him happy, at least in the beginning.

It’s just that Steve has been weirdly withdrawn in the past year and Stu can’t deny that he’s hoping for some sort of reconnection now because the last thing he wants is to loose Steve for real.

He’s always been scared of losing Steve’s friendship. He always felt like he’s on the verge of losing him, somehow.

He never really told anyone about it, not even Henry. He told Henry half of it at least because Henry was in a quite similar situation and Stu felt bad for him.

Stu is an honest man, usually. He says what he thinks and he tells people how he feels about them because he never wants to complicate things unnecessarily.

But with Steve it always was different.

Maybe Stu really was in love with him, maybe that’s what scared him so much. Back then he just regarded it as a stupid crush and decided to move on.

He did move on, he thinks.

He met David and he fell in love with him.

Seventeen-year-old Stu was really naive and he now very much knows that whatever on and off relationship he had with David, it was incredibly one-sided.

Sometimes he thinks about what could have been if he had just told Steve.

Maybe Steve would have liked him back and maybe they could have been together, maybe Stu could have avoided all the uncertainty and the heartbreak that David brought him.

Stu deserved better, he knows that. And there’s no point in revelling in what could have been, he knows that too. But Steve would have been better, Steve would have been good. 

Stu thought about telling Steve, about a year after David left. He still had a little bit of a crush and thought about giving it a try, though he wasn’t even sure if Steve is into guys at all.

Then Beth came and the opportunity of Stu and Steve being a thing passed once again.

Stu gave up after that.

There’s no point in chasing someone you will never have. 

Maybe Stu should have told Henry that. But Henry was so hopelessly devoted and Stu didn’t want to destroy the last bit of hope that he still had.

Maybe it will work out for Henry, Stu really hopes it will.

Just because he gave up hope for himself, doesn’t mean that finding happiness in love is utterly unachievable for everyone.

Stu isn’t sad, he just wants to clarify that. He’s not unhappy. He’s just a little lonely sometimes and whatever Henry and he had somehow made him realise that.

He liked Henry, maybe they really could have had something nice if it wasn’t for Stu leaving.

Part of Stu kept feeling like it wasn’t meant to be and maybe that’s true. Or maybe Stu is just paranoid and refuses to grant himself a chance to find love. Maybe he‘s too scared of loosing it again or finding out that it wasn’t what it seemed to be at first.

It‘s safer to just take a step away from it all.

Someone knocks on the window of the van and Stu flinches and looks up.

There Steve is, grinning from ear to ear.

Stu smiles because how could he not smile upon seeing Steve like this?

Steve is really cute.

He’s all red hair and freckles, so many freckles, they nearly make up most of his skin, decorating his round face like stars decorate the sky.

Steve once said he doesn’t like his freckles but Stu likes every single one.

He quickly closes his book and gets out of the camper.

“Hey sorry, I forgot the time”, he says, pulling Steve in a hug.

“Oh no, it’s fine. I found you.”

“Yeah but I was going to stand on the platform and hold a sign with your name on it”, Stu says.

Steve smiles even brighter.

“That would have been so cool.”

“I _know_ “, Stu says as he walks to the side of the camper and opens it. “I always wanted to do that, it looks like so much fun.”

He takes the bag from Steve who followed him and throws it inside.

“We can reenact the moment if that makes you happy”, Steve says.

Stu smiles. “No, it’s fine. Get in.”

Steve climbs in on the passengers side as Stu makes his way to the drivers seat.

“I love what you’ve done to this”, Steve says, as soon as Stu is back inside as well.

“Thank you”, Stu says. He can’t deny that he’s kind of proud of it.

He didn’t decorate that much, he just cleaned it up really good and covered the seats with blankets because they were really worn and there were even some cigarette burn-holes in the fabric of the drivers seat.

Steve leaned back in his seat and is looking at Stu now, a little smile dancing around his lips.

“What?”, Stu asks.

“It’s just good to see you. I missed you.”

Stu smiles and looks away, hoping to hide that that made him a little flustered.

“I missed you too.”

“How are you? How have you been?”

“I’m alright. ..it got a little lonely though.”

“Good thing that I’m here.”

“It really is.”

Steve smiles.

“How are you?”, Stu keeps going.

Steve nods. “I’m alright. I’m better. You know, Beth.. I’m better.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s drive downtown and see if we find something to eat?”

Steve nods. “Yeah, sounds good.”

* * *

Being with Steve is easier than Stu expected it to be.

It just flows, it’s almost like it was before they started drifting apart and Stu begins to think that maybe the reasons they did drift were Beth and David.

Beth surely didn’t mean any harm, it’s just when people are in love, they tend to only have eyes for each other and so did Steve for Beth.

Stu isn’t mad at him for that, how could he be?

It feels nice, talking to Steve.

Steve just gets him, he always has.

Steve had a lot to tell and Stu had a lot to tell as well so they just talked and listened while they ate and they weren’t even done talking when they walked back to the camper and started driving to their next destination.

They drive for hours, talking at first and eventually settling on listening to Steve’s podcasts instead.

Steve keeps volunteering to drive and eventually Stu agrees because he is getting way too tired and his foot is starting to cramp on the gas pedal.

* * *

They make it to their planned destination eventually and sleep in a parking lot in the back of the camper.

There‘s not as much space and Steve, being a big guy, takes up most of it but it‘s fine because neither of them has a problem with nearness or small spaces.

“This is more comfortable than I thought it would be”, Steve comments as soon as both of them lay there.

Stu smiles. “Really?”

“..No.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

“Yeah.”

“Good night?”

“Night.”

Stu rolls over and hits his arm on the wall, having underestimated how close it is.

“Are you okay?”, Steve whispers.

“Yeah.”

“Uncomfortable?”

“Yeah.”

“We can cuddle.”

A horrible idea, really.

“Yeah”, Stu says anyway, turning back to Steve.

Steve pushes himself on his side and pulls Stu closer. Stu lets him and cuddles against him, closing his eyes now.

It’s a little bit more comfortable.

Steve is comfortable, his hugs are the best anyway.

Stu is not falling for him again though, in case anyone was thinking that.

Stu simply appreciates having Steve as a friend.

Because Steve is awesome, that is all.

* * *

The camper drives fine for a month before the inevitable happens.

Steve is driving again because he volunteered and Stu didn’t really feel like it anyway.

They’re in the middle of nowhere, having left the town they were in about an hour ago when Steve curses quietly.

“What?”, Stu asks.

“That light is blinking.”

“What light?”

“Oil? Motor oil? I think”, Steve mumbles while pulling over.

“Shit, really?”

“Please tell me you checked that before we left.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Did you at least bring extra oil?”

“No.”

“Shit shit shit what are we-“

“Calm down. Take a breath.”

“Stu, we’re going to _die_ here.”

Steve is visibly panicking now.

Stu is panicking a little but he doesn’t want to show it. He feels like at least one of them should stay calm and since it’s not going to be Steve, it’ll have to be Stu.

He just gets out of the camper and opens the hood, checking the oil and yes it is in fact as good as empty.

Steve got out as well and is just watching Stu with a fearful expression.

“It will be fine”, Stu says, trying to stay reasonable, “we can just call someone. It’s not like we don’t have a phone.”

He pulls out his phone and the first thing he notices is that there’s no reception.

He looks up at Steve.

“We’re screwed, aren’t we?”, Steve mutters.

“No we’re not.”

“Shit we’re so screwed, we’re going to die.”

“Someone will probably drive past here soon, I’m sure they can help.”

Steve scoffs but actually seems to calm down at that.

“Sorry”, Stu says.

“Huh?”

“For not checking the oil. I should have. ..I meant to, really. I just forgot. This is on me.”

“No, it’s okay. I could have remembered doing it too, it’s not like you have to do everything.”

Stu shrugs lightly.

“We should probably.. put down that thing”, Steve says.

“What thing?”

“You know, the triangle. The reflective one. It’s what you do when your car breaks down in the middle of the road, right?”

Stu nods because Steve is right.

They find it and they place it on the road about 100 feet away.

Then they open the side door of the camper and sit there in silence, waiting for someone to drive by and see that they need help.

“This was bound to happen”, Steve says after a while.

“What do you mean?”, Stu asks.

“This. We just had to have a break down at some point. This is part of a road trip.”

Stu smiles.

“We didn’t exactly break down.”

“Well we can’t keep driving either so..”

“Yeah”, Stu admits.

“Surely someone will come soon.”

“Yeah; I hope so.”

* * *

No one comes.

They sit there for three hours and they’ve never been more alone.

Not a single human being seems to be at least somewhat near.

Steve started to get nervous again and now he’s just pacing around outside.

Stu let himself sink on his back, his legs still tangling over the edge of the camper.

“I shouldn’t have come here”, Steve says now.

Stu sits up.

“What?”

“I didn’t want to at first. I shouldn’t have said yes.”

Stu frowns, a little hurt by this.

“Why didn’t you want to come?”

“Because I‘m fine at home! I like being there. I didn’t _need_ to leave like you.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I’m just.. ugh!”

Stu just stares at him, unsure about what he is supposed to say to that.

“Please don’t take your anger out on me”, he eventually says.

Steve looks up, his expression a mixture of realisation and regret.

“I’m sorry”, he says.

“I mean, I get that you’re scared but I didn’t force you to come here”, Stu notes.

“I know. I know, I’m sorry.”

Steve comes over to Stu now, sitting down next to him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not mad at you.”

“Okay.”

“I didn’t think. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Stu looks at Steve, just studying him for a moment, trying to figure out what’s going on.

Steve has always been a little nervous but not like this. He wouldn’t freak out like this if there wasn’t something else going on.

He wouldn’t usually snap just because they’re stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Besides, his eyes are welling up in tears now and that’s worrying. Steve doesn’t cry a lot, or at least not in front of other people, not even in front of Stu.

“What’s going on?”, Stu asks.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Steve gestures at the camper.

“No it’s not just that, is it?”, Stu says.

Steve shrugs and sniffles. Then he laughs, awkwardly and only for about two seconds.

“Steve?”, Stu asks.

He just shakes his head and frowns.

“I don’t know what’s going on”, he says.

“Like.. you can’t put it in words or you genuinely don’t know?”

“Both? I don’t know.”

Stu just reaches for Steve’s hand and pulls it into his, trying to calm him down a little by doing so.

“Is it Beth?”, Stu keeps going, “Do you miss her?”

“I suppose?” 

“But that’s not it?”

“No.”

Stu settles on caressing the back of Steve’s hand, caught in between wanting to help and not knowing what to say.

He doesn’t want Steve to cry, he doesn’t want him to be hurt. Part of him wants to just pull Steve’s hand up to his lips and press a kiss into his palm, maybe that would make him smile. Or maybe it wouldn’t, maybe it would just confuse him.

“I’m.. hurt”, Steve mutters now, “and overwhelmed and.. since she broke up. I’m-.. And my parents haven’t been any help, they’re still distant. ..You know how they feel about my transition.”

Stu nods lightly.

“I thought coming here with you might help”, Steve keeps going, “Being with you is relaxing, you know?”

“What?”

“I feel good when I’m with you. Without you even doing anything. Just like.. being next to you. That’s nice.”

“Yeah?”, Stu fumbles out, a little overwhelmed because he never thought of himself as someone who makes people feel like that.

For him Steve was always one of the people who made him relax.

“I just lost it for a moment. I’m sorry”, Steve says.

“It’s been a lot, I get it.”

“Still no reason for me to be mean to _you_.”

Stu shrugs lightly and nods. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not.”

“I never asked why you guys broke up. Is that.. Can I ask that?”

Steve nods.

“It was a lot of things. The distance, for one. She was really jealous most of the time, I think she wanted to break up because she didn’t want me to leave her for someone else first. I wouldn’t have though. I mean I wanted to leave her but not exactly because I had someone else waiting.”

“Why did you want to leave her?”

“Sometimes she mentioned us getting married in the future.”

“That’s it?”

“It genuinely freaked me out”, Steve says, “At first I thought maybe I just don’t like the idea of marriage or maybe it’s because we’re too young right now but eventually I realised that it wasn’t the concept of marriage that scared me and instead..”

“Marrying her?”

“Yeah. Am I a bad person?”

“No?”

“I liked her but the idea of being with her _forever_ was just.. suffocating.”

It’s quiet for a moment.

Steve’s words linger in the air like smoke.

Stu keeps repeating the last word I’m his head.

Suffocating.

It feels familiar.

David felt suffocating sometimes.

Being with someone who doesn’t give you space to breathe is suffocating.

“How did she treat you?”, Stu asks.

“Huh?”, Steve makes.

“Was she possessive?”

“No. Or.. no, not really. But every time I went out with you and the others she got kind of disappointed. She tried not to show it but it was obvious and it made me feel like shit and I think she didn’t feel great about it either.”

“Maybe that breakup was for the best for both of you”, Stu notes.

Steve nods. “Yeah.. I was relieved when she broke up, you know? I never told anyone that because I feel horrible about it but for a moment I was just relieved.”

“Yeah?”

“Both of us deserve better, I think. We didn’t fit anymore, it wasn’t how it was when we got together anymore. We changed too much.”

“But you miss her?”

“Yeah? It doesn’t make sense.”

“No, I think I get it.”

“You do?”

“I think so.”

Steve lightly squeezes Stu’s hand before he brings it up to his lips and presses a kiss in his palm.

“You’re the only person I would want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with”, Steve says.

Stu smiles.

“Even though I wouldn’t mind not dying out here”, Steve goes on, staring into the distance and searching the horizon for someone who can help.

“We won’t die here”, Stu says.

“It’s been what, three hours?”

“We still have food and water and a place to sleep so..”

“Do you think we should ration it?”

Stu chuckles.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“We’ll ration it”, Steve decides.

“Okay”, Stu gives in.

* * *

No one comes and then it gets dark and around midnight they decide to just sleep.

Stu lays awake for a while that night, listening to Steve’s quiet breathing.

Steve’s arm is slumped around Stu’s bare chest and he’s all warm and soft and Stu realises that maybe he isn’t that much over Steve after all.

He didn’t think about that the whole time they laid there, of course.

First he thought about them being stranded and then he thought about whether or not it would be a good idea to just walk along the street the next morning and hope that they find someone who can help (he decided that it is, in fact, not a good idea).

Then he got distracted because Steve rolled over and slipped his hand over Stu’s chest, snuggling against him.

And then there was Steve’s smell and his face, smushed against Stu’s shoulder and all he could think was _“oh”_.

It was only a few weeks ago that Stu thought about Steve and him and about how convenient it is that he’s over Steve and now this happens and it’s so minor, so insignificant but it feels so nice. It feels so so so so so nice.

Stu lays awake and thinks about it for a while, only falling asleep eventually, after he tries really hard for what felt like hours.

* * *

When he wakes up, Steve is not next to him anymore and he hears talking outside of the camper.

Then there’s a roaring engine and the sound of a car driving away.

Stu hurriedly gets out of the bed and slips on a t-shirt before he opens the door and steps outside, still barefoot and half asleep.

There Steve is, turning to Stu upon him having opened the door and smiling brightly.

“Guess what we have?”

“Motor oil?”

He nods.

“She was really nice. She had some in her car and let me fill up a litre. I wanted to give her money for it but she just waved me off.”

“Wow.” Stu laughs, feeling the relief in his chest. “Thank fuck.”

Steve laughs and nods.

“Come on, we should go.”

“Yeah, let me just..” Stu points at the camper before he goes back inside and gets dressed properly.

He can see Steve get in on the driver’s side and closes the side door now, climbing on the passenger’s side from the back of the camper.

“Are you sure you wanna drive?”, he asks.

“Man, you woke up like five minutes ago. Are you sure _you_ wanna drive?”

Stu hesitates. “No.”

Steve smiles. “See.”

“But I could, if you’re tired too.”

“No, I actually slept really well.”

“Yeah? That’s good.”

Steve nods. “How did you sleep?”

Stu shrugs. “I laid awake for an eternity.”

“Oh, that sucks.”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

“You can sleep now if you want. I’ll just drive us to the nearest city, so we can go buy a hundred-litre oil can.”

Stu laughs. “We couldn’t even fit that in here.”

“Ten litres?”

“We’ll see.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Stu does fall asleep for a while and only wakes up when the camper rattles to a stop.

He opens his eyes and sees that they‘re parked on the side of a road.

Steve pulled out his phone and is looking something up on google maps.

“Where are we?”, Stu asks.

“I’m not sure but it’s kind of nice here, also we need to refuel so now I’m looking for nearby gas stations.

“Oh okay. Good idea.”

“Found one.”

Steve just hands his phone to Stu and starts the engine again.

Stu quietly leads Steve through the streets to the gas station he picked and eventually they make it and Steve gets out to refuel.

Stu gets out too, just to stand a little because his back and legs hurt from sitting too much.

He is leaning against the camper and waiting for Steve to get back when a man gets his attention.

He’s standing near the gas station, smoking a cigarette and when their eyes meet, he smiles and waves.

Stu quickly looks away, not really knowing what to expect from this.

He can see the man come over in his peripheral vision and quietly hopes for Steve to come back soon.

Stu can handle himself, usually. He’s not the tallest guy but he’s pretty strong.

But that man looks strong too and Stu always gets nervous in situations like this and never really knows what to say so if he’s being honest, he’d rather have Steve be there too.

Steve can just stand in front of people and they’ll immediately get intimidated by his size alone.

“Hey”, the man says now.

“Hi?”

“Are you alone?”

“No.”

“Huh. That’s a shame.”

“Why?”

“If you had said yes, I could have offered to keep you company.”

“I don’t need that, thanks.”

Stu eyes the entrance to the gas station and sees Steve step out of there now.

“Do you want me to show you the city a little? I could show you some bars or my place”, the man keeps going.

“No. ..thanks, but no”, Stu says.

He can see Steve almost tripping over a hose on the ground now while hurrying towards them and smiles lightly at that.

The man turns around, seeing Steve.

“Who is that?”, he asks.

“Who are you?”, Steve asks, stopping in front of them.

“I-..”

“Is he bothering you?”, Steve asks Stu.

“Who are you?”, the man asks again.

“His boyfriend, not some creep flirting with strangers at gas stations”, Steve snaps back.

“I didn’t do anything”, the man fumbles out, clearly having gotten intimidated by Steve.

“Cool. We’ll leave then”, Steve says, looking at Stu now and checking in with him.

Stu nods.

“Yeah, uh.. have a good drive”, the man says, stepping away.

“Are you okay?”, Steve asks.

“Yeah, everything’s fine”, Stu says.

“Okay.”

“I can drive now, if you want”, Stu then offers.

“Sure?”

Stu nods.

“Okay”, Steve gives in, handing him the keys.

* * *

“What did he want?”, Steve asks, as soon as Stu started driving.

Stu shrugs.

“I don’t know. Maybe he was flirting, maybe he was trying to kidnap me, who knows.”

“Not funny.”

“Yeah, I was a little scared.”

“I could see.”

“Thanks by the way.”

“Yeah, no of course.”

“My boyfriend, huh?”

Stu looks at Steve to see him smile and blush a little. “I just wanted to make him take a step back.”

“Mh-hm.”

“Besides-“

“Yeah?”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“It wouldn’t be that absurd.”

Stu hesitates. “Do you wanna date or..?”

“No, I just.. No.”

“Okay.”

Stu would be done though, he thinks. Not that he likes Steve like that but he does like Steve like that.

They drive for an hour more until they get to the city they were trying to reach all along.

“Should we just get a room?”, Steve asks.

“What?”, Stu blurts out, having completely misunderstood Steves intentions.

“I’d just like to sleep in an actual bed for once and shower somewhere that’s not a public swimming pool”, Steve says.

“Oh.”

Stu can feel Steve look at him and nods now.

“Yeah, lets do it, why not.”

“Okay, cool.”

Steve immediately pulls out his phone and starts to scroll through it.

Stu just keeps driving until Steve says: “I found one!” and starts to give Stu directions.

* * *

The hotel Steve found is cute. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel a little homey without you actually being at home.

The receptionist gives them a room with a double bed, either because she thought they were dating or because that’s all she had.

Stu doesn’t mind and Steve doesn’t mind either.

They’re friends, they’re used to sharing a bed.

Besides, they have spent the whole last month sharing a bed way smaller than the one the room provides.

“I’m gonna take the longest shower of my life now”, Steve says, already walking towards the bathroom before he turns back to Stu. “Unless you want to go first?”

Stu shakes his head, smiling now. “No thanks, go for it.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

“I do.”

“See you in a few years.”

“Have fun.”

“Thanks, you too.”

“Mh-hm”, Stu says, letting himself fall on the comfortable bed.

He lays there for a while and listens to the sound of the shower. Just the water hitting the tiles and Steve singing quietly every now and then, before he stops again, remembering that he’s not alone.

Stu smiles while listening to him.

Then the sound of the running shower stops and shortly afterwards, the door opens and Steve steps out, wearing a towel.

His red hair is wet and hanging in his face.

“I just had the best shower experience ever, I shit you not”, Steve says.

Stu laughs. “Interesting.”

“You should shower too.”

“Nice way of telling me I stink”, Stu says, pretending to be offended.

“You don’t _stink_ ”, Steve quickly says, “But the showerhead here really slaps.”

“I should really shower then, huh?”

“Just me, trying to recommend good things to you.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Well thank you.”

“Thank _you_.” Stu gets up now. “You should go lay on that bed. That’s my recommendation to you”, he says, going for the bathroom.

“I will”, Steve says and Stu smiles, before closing the door behind himself.

\--

The showerhead really is very good and Stu ends up spending a little too long just standing there and staring at the wall.

When he gets out of the bathroom, the fluffy towel wrapped around his hips, Steve is asleep on the bed.

He’s wearing sweatpants and a loose t-shirt and he’s laying on his belly, his face buried in one of the pillows like he was just going to close his eyes for a few minutes.

Stu smiles and gets dressed before he just joins Steve, slipping under the blanket because it looks too welcoming for him to not do that.

“Hi”, Steve whispers into the pillow.

“Hey.”

“How was it?”

“What?”

“Shower.”

“Incredible.”

“I know.”

Stu chuckles.

“Do you wanna come under the blanket?”

“Yes.”

Steve pushes himself up and slips under the blanket before he rolls himself over to Stu and cuddles against him.

“Is that okay?”, he whispers, “I’m a little touch-starved I think.”

“Yeah”, Stu says, because of course it’s okay. Besides, he is a little touch-starved too and did he mention that Steves hugs are the best? Well, they are.

* * *

Both of them fall asleep and only wake up again at like seven pm, hungrier than ever.

They’re too tired to go for dinner though so Stu goes outside and gets all the food they still have in the camper.

Then they sit at the small table in their room and eat whatever still looks edible.

“I think I love it here. This place make me feel like we’re on our honeymoon or something", Steve says after a while.

Stu chuckles. “I didn’t know you fantasize about our honeymoon.”

“I-..” Steve blushes now. “I didn’t mean it like _that_.”

“Sure. Maybe take me on a date first.”

“Would you go on a date with me?”, Steve asks, looking surprisingly serious suddenly.

“Are you asking me out?”

“I don’t know.”

Stu is so taken aback that he completely blacks out on what to say and all he fumbles out is: “You and Beth just broke up.”

“Yeah”, Steve says.

“I’m sorry, I’m.. did you mean it?”

“She was always jealous of you, you know? That‘s why I spent less time with you alone, I was.. I didn‘t want her to have to be jealous”, Steve says, not answering Stu’s question.

Stu frowns, confused now. “But that‘s ridiculous?”

“It‘s not.”

“We’re friends! Are you not allowed to have friends?”

“It’s not that.”

“What is it then? I mean, it’s not like you’re in love with me or something.”

Steve stays quiet, staring at the ground now.

“Steve?”, Stu asks.

“That toast is really molding, huh?”, Steve tries to change the topic, “We should throw that away.”

Stu hesitates.

Steve just gets up, picking up the pack of toast and throwing it into the little trash can.

“Steve?”, Stu asks again.

Steve just shrugs and lets himself sink on the edge of the bed.

Stu gets up to join him.

Then there they are, sitting next to each other and staring at the floorboards.

“I.. but-“, Stu starts, trying to work everything out in his head. “You’re into guys?” 

“I think I’m bi, maybe.” 

“What?” 

“Or not maybe. I am. I‘m bi. I‘m.. really into guys.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry. I should have told you.”

“No it‘s fine.”

“Sorry.”

“Are you..”

“Huh?” 

“Into me?” 

“No! ..yes. Maybe? Yes.” Steve’s voice goes quieter with every word.

Stu doesn’t know what to say, he’s a little too overwhelmed by this. It all came so suddenly.

He looks at Steve who is staring into the distance like the wall is somewhat interesting. 

Stu takes a breath, trying to assemble the courage to confess too.

“Steve-“, he starts.

“I‘m sorry”, Steve blurts out, “I don‘t want things to be awkward, we can just ignore and forget that. I‘ve been in love with you for a while, I can handle it by now.”

“For a-.. How long?”

“Like.. middle school?”

“What?”

“It‘s been an on and off really. I didn‘t.. pine after you for years. Or I did but it‘s not as weird as it sounds, I swear. It‘s just that you’re really nice and smart and funny and handsome and spending time with you feels so good and-“

“I like you too.”

It’s quiet after that.

Steve closes his mouth and opens it and closes it again before he looks at Stu, their eyes finally meeting.

“What?”, Steve asks.

“Romantically”, Stu clarifies.

“Yeah, I.. you didn’t tell me?”

Stu frowns, confused now. “Well you didn’t tell me either, did you?”

“It’s just that you’re usually really honest and you always say what you think or ..feel.”

“Yeah I suppose.”

“I thought if you liked me too, you’d probably tell me.”

“You were in a relationship for like two years.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not gonna.. barge in there and confess my feelings.”

“Oh.. yeah. But you could have told me. I wouldn’t have been mad at you.”

“Sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Maybe I would have left Beth for you.”

Stu scoffs quietly, thinking that Steve must be joking for sure.

“No, I mean it. I’ve been wanting to for a while, I just never felt like I had enough of a reason.”

“If you wanted me to be that reason, then-“

“No wait, sorry, that came out wrong. I just.. I think I needed a wake up call. Beth and me, that wasn’t healthy was it? Maybe with you I would have had the courage to leave sooner.”

“Oh.”

“But I’m not saying me staying with her is your fault! If that’s how it came out then I’m sorry, I swear I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Yeah, no, you’re good.”

“Okay.”

It’s quiet again.

What now?

Stu can barely concentrate, his heart is pounding like crazy and the blood is rushing in his ears, almost giving him a headache. 

He wanted to hear this from Steve so long, it feels surreal now.

Maybe he’s dreaming.

He’s probably dreaming.

He reaches for his arm and pinches himself.

“Stop that”, Steve mutters.

“What?”

“You’re not asleep, don’t hurt yourself.”

“I might be.”

Steve shrugs lightly and Stu can see him look at him, in the corner of his eye.

“Do you want to go out with me?”, Steve asks. 

“Yes.”

Steve smiles and Stu smiles too.

“Okay”, Steve says. “Does tomorrow work for you?”

Stu chuckles. “Yes, tomorrow sounds perfect.”

Steve pushes himself closer to Stu and reaches for his hand.

Stu lets his head sink on Steve’s shoulder.

He hears Steve let go a shaky breath and his heart beats a little bit faster at the prospect of Steve being equally as nervous about all of this.

Stu looks up to Steve and his nose bumps into Steve’s cheek because maybe he’s a little too close or maybe he did it on purpose.

Steve smiles lightly and turns to him, resting his forehead against Stu’s.

“Can we kiss?”, he asks.

Stu smiles.

“Like..”, Steve keeps going, “Do we kiss _now_ or only after our date tomorrow?”

“We can kiss now, in my opinion”, Stu says, getting just a little impatient.

In his defence, Steve is very close and his breath is tickling on Stu’s lips and that’s very intriguing.

“Okay”, Steve says, nodding in agreement. 

Stu pushes his chin towards Steve, waiting for Steve to close the gap.

He does, taking a little too much time.

Stu sighs when he feels Steve’s lips against his. He lets his eyes fall shut and reaches for Steve’s neck, pulling himself closer.

He can feel Steve smile against his lips and smiles too because it feels so nice.

“Shit, I’ve been wanting to do this for _years_ “, Steve mutters.

Before Stu can answer or agree, he’s being pulled into another kiss. He doesn’t mind, of course, because this feels way too good.


	2. Chad And Bill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is set at chapter 72 (but from Chad’s POV)

Bill said he’d come pick Chad up.

Chad still isn’t sure what that means but he thinks they’re just going to the party as friends.

He mostly settled on that idea because he doesn’t want to get his hopes up too high.

It’s almost weird how fast he fell for Bill.

At first Bill was just one of Henrys friends who was surprisingly nice to everybody and Chad can’t deny that Bill’s sweet personality made him feel very attracted to Bill right from the beginning.

Of course Bill is attractive in looks as well, ridiculously so, but that wasn’t what ended up making Chad lay awake at night, trying to work up the courage to ask him out.

Bill just always listened. Chad isn’t used to people being interested in everything he says but Bill always was, which is a nice feeling.

They became friends.

Chad has never been good at making friends, no matter how confident he presents himself, he’s always a little too shy to actually make the first step and talk to people.

It was easier with Bill because Bill never made Chad feel like anything he said was stupid.

But also Chad really tried with Bill because he wanted to be friends with him so bad (and it worked).

They go to the movies together a lot or they spend time at each other’s places, watching TV or just hanging out.

Chad got to know Bills moms and his pet tortoise Mary Shell-ey.

Bill got to know Chads dad and that went fine too, except for the fact that his dad thought Bill and him were dating for a solid month before Chad found out about it and quickly corrected him.

Bill is a little early for picking him up, as always.

Chad is still leaning on the sink in front of the mirror, trying to get his eyeliner right when there’s a knock on the door.

He quickly puts it down and goes for the door to open it.

There Bill is, wearing a button up and holding a jacket. The first few buttons are unbuttoned and there are sunglasses, having been stuck into the collar.

“Who are you dressed as?”, Chad asks, because Bill is clearly dressed as someone. He wouldn’t wear this normally.

“I’m Bill from Mamma Mia.”

Chad can’t help but smile, letting his gaze wander up and down on Bill.

“Wow, I love it.”

Bill laughs quietly.

“Who are you?”

“Oh I’m Alfred. From Alice By Heart.”

“You got to keep the costume?”

“Yeah, I got to keep the costume.”

Bill laughs again and it’s wonderful. Bill is wonderful. 

“Sorry, I’m not really done yet, do you mind waiting for a minute?”, Chad asks. 

“No, of course, take your time. I’m early anyway.”

“Okay, I’ll be done in a second, I swear.”

Chad goes for the bathroom and quickly finishes up his eyeliner.

Bill appears behind him in the mirror, leaning in the doorway to the bathroom just as Chad puts the cap back on.

Chad smiles.

“Hey.”

“Hi”, Bill says, smiling too.

Chad leans closer to the mirror for a moment, trying to figure out if he made it symmetrical.

“You look really good”, Bill says.

“I-.. thank you. Is it symmetrical?”, Chad asks, trying to overplay how flustered that made him.

“Let me see.”

Chad turns to Bill and Bill comes closer, carefully reaching for Chads face and holding it still as he stares into his eyes or probably at his eyeliner.

Chad just sort of holds his breath on accident when Bill comes that close. He looks down at Bills lips for a moment, regretting it immediately because he didn’t mean to. He just hopes Bill didn’t notice.

“Yeah it looks symmetrical to me”, Bill says, taking a step back.

Chad tries to take a breath without making it too obvious that he forgot to breath for the past few seconds and smiles again.

“Okay, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Thank you.”

Bill is still staring at Chad and the longer he does that, the faster Chads heart beats in his chest.

“Do you want me to put some on you?”, he fumbles out.

“Huh?”

“Eyeliner.”

“Oh.. I-.. Would it suit me?”

“I’m sure it would.”

“I don’t know. I mean I did always want to try it but..”

“But?”

“Okay, whatever, yes.”

“Yes?”, Chad asks, getting excited.

“Yes”, Bill says.

“Come here.”

Chad grabs the eyeliner and Bills hand, pulling him into his room.

“Okay, sit there”, he says, pointing at his bed.

Bill sits down, looking at Chad and smiling.

“Okay”, he says, “What do I do?”

Chad chuckles, climbing onto the bed as well, as close as possible to Bill.

“Just hold still.”

He moves around for a moment, trying to find a position where he can reach Bills face best without smearing eyeliner all over it and eventually he ends up sitting on Bills lap.

Bill laughs. “Comfortable?”

Chad smiles, reaching for Bills face with one hand and pushing his chin up.

“Very. Is this okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll do it now.”

“Go for it.”

Chad leans closer and focuses on not messing up now.

“Close”, he whispers every now and then, “Open again. ..Okay, now close it halfway.”

Bill smiles but does as Chad says.

When Chad is done with the first eye, he pulls his hand away and just looks at Bill for a moment.

It looks really good on Bill.

Like yes, he has to see the whole picture with both eyes done first but Jesus Christ.

Bill is staring back at him and getting more serious now.

Chad does too, when he realises how close they are. It feels closer than it did when he still had his hand resting on Bills cheek, trying to trace his eyelid properly. Or maybe they just came each other closer without really noticing after Chad pulled his hand away.

“How does it look?”, Bill asks quietly, his gaze dropping down to Chads lips for a split second.

“Hot”, is all Chad manages to choke out as he can feel his heart beat heavier and faster in his chest.

“Yeah?”

Bill leans a little closer.

Chad just nods, before he reflexively closes the last bit of distance.

Bills lips are soft and his mouth tastes like mint toothpaste and for a moment Chad thinks about how cute it is that Bill brushed his teeth before the party. Did he expect to kiss someone? Did he expect to kiss Chad? Is this a date after all?

Bill is all careful and a little too gentle and Chad is kind of into it.

There’s a smile on both of their lips when they pull away from each other.

“I, uh..”, Chad starts, trying to think through the fog that is dazing his brain. “I should do the other eye now.”

Bill nods lightly. “Okay, yeah.”

Chad nods too and takes a breath, trying to concentrate and keep his hand from shaking too much.

He manages to get the other eye done and hesitantly pushes himself off Bills lap after he finished.

Bill smiles after Chad just silently stared at him in awe for a solid minute.

God, he wants to spend the rest of his life with Bill.

“You’re beautiful”, Chad says, “..I mean you always are of course. Not just with eyeliner. I was just-“

He hesitates when he realises how stupid he sounds.

Bills smile grows brighter.

“ _You’re_ beautiful”, he says.

Chad smiles.

“We should go?”

Bill nods.

“Yeah okay.”

Chad hesitantly gets up from the bed, secretly wishing to just stay there with Bill and maybe kiss some more.

But maybe Bill doesn’t even want to kiss again, maybe Bill wants to go to the party instead. Chad is too afraid to ask so he doesn’t.

Bill gets up as well, waiting for Chad as he quickly slips into his boots and ties them before he grabs his jacket.

* * *

Everybody is already there when they appear at the party.

After an hour Chad finds himself by the lake, sitting in a circle with the rest of the group.

He is sitting next to Bill and part of him has the urge to push himself a little closer, just enough for their shoulders to touch.

A part of him wants to be close to Bill so bad.

Being close to Bill feels nice, it feels safe.

If Chad is going to be honest, he is still very much not comfortable with too much physical touch, especially not if it comes by surprise and from someone that Chad doesn’t know too well.

But being close to Bill never feels like a risk, it never feels like too much or on the verge of being uncomfortable for Chad.

Bill is always so careful and that makes Chad like him even more.

If a safe space were a person, Bill would be that for Chad, he thinks.

At some point Emma suggests they all play truth or dare and despite protests coming from both Ted and Bill, they end up playing it.

Chad listens in the beginning but ends up zoning out when he notices Bill shift just a little bit closer to Chad, close enough for their shoulders to touch.

Then he drops his hand on the ground between them and Chad ends up staring at it for a while, getting nervous at just the thought of taking it.

He slowly reaches for it and places his hand in Bills palm.

When he looks at Bill, he can see him smile.

Bill doesn’t look back at Chad, he is just staring at their hands, a soft smile on his lips.

Chad watches Bill until he hears his name and slowly snaps out of his daydreams about Bill and him kissing in the rain.

“Chad?”

“Yeah?”, he asks.

“Truth or dare?”, Emma asks.

“Truth”, Chad decides, because dare always feels just a little too risky for him. 

“Are you in love?”, Charlotte asks, leaning forward from next to Bill.

“Like right now?”, Chad asks, carefully pulling his hand out of Bills, so he doesn’t feel how sweaty it is getting.

Charlotte nods. “Yes.” 

And what is he supposed to do? Lie? He’s not a good liar.

Besides, he doesn’t even want to lie, he wants Bill to know, he wants everybody to know. He has never really felt like this, a part of him wants to shout it out in the whole world.

“Yeah, maybe”, he admits, “I mean, I think I am.” 

“With whom?”, Bill blurts out. 

Chad smiles and looks up at him.

He is all wide-eyed and curious, almost a little nervous and it’s so cute.

“I already answered my question”, Chad just says, “Your turn. Truth or dare?” 

“Truth”, Bill says, his brown eyes sinking deeper into Chads and making his heart go wild. 

“Are you in love?”, Chad asks because he needs to know so bad.

“Yeah.” He just says it. Just like that.

And Chad can barely handle it. “Okay”, he fumbles out, barely loud enough for everybody to hear because suddenly the blood is rushing in his ears and he feels a little nauseous in a good way. 

It’s dead quiet for a moment and Chad genuinely considers leaning towards Bill and kissing him again.

“Do you guys want to say something to each other?”, Frankie then asks. 

“I think I..”, Bill starts. Then he stops and smiles hesitantly. “I think I’ll go get something to drink. Does anyone want anything?” 

“I’ll come with you”, Henry says.

“Okay”, Bill goes and then they get up and leave. Chad feels hot, like his skin is on fire.

“Are you alright?”, Charlotte asks, having found herself next to Chad now that Bill left.

Chad nods.

“You should follow him, you know”, she keeps going.

“You think so?”, Chad asks, barely able to hide how nervous he is.

Charlotte nods.

Chad slowly pushes himself up. His legs feel like jell-o and he almost stumbles a little.

“Okay, uh.. see you guys”, he says, as he already leaves and hurries after Bill and Henry.

He sees them from afar eventually.

They didn’t get very far, they’re just standing there and talking, maybe they’re even talking about Chad.

“Bill?”, Chad shouts before he can lose his courage and change his mind.

Bill and Henry turn to him and there goes Chads courage.

“Yeah?”, Bill asks. 

“Can we talk?”, Chad fumbles out.

Bill nods. “Yes.” 

Henry says something too but Chads heart is beating too loud for him to process that.

Then Henry leaves and they’re alone.

“Hi”, Chad says, “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”, Bill asks.

Chad shrugs. “I don’t know. Are you alright?“

Bill smiles lightly. Then he nods.

“I’m just..”

“If I made you uncomfortable, then I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t.”

“Sure?”

“Yes. Did I make you uncomfortable, did I-“

“No.”

“Okay. ..good.”

“Yeah.”

Bill nods in agreement.

“So neither of us is uncomfortable right now”, Chad notes.

Bill nods. “Love that.”

Chad smiles. “Yeah.”

How is this so awkward?

“Hey Chad, I-“, Bill starts now, just to get interrupted by Emma barging into their conversation.

“Hey sorry”, she says, “Have you seen where Paul went?”

Chad shakes his head because if he’s being honest he didn’t keep an eye on his surroundings at all since he started talking to Bill.

“No”, Bill says, “Why? Is he okay?”

Emma shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe he just went to his room, I’ll go see if he’s there. Thank you.”

And with that she’s leaving again.

Chad stays quiet and waits for Bill to continue where he stopped when he says: “Can I walk you to your room?”

Chad nods, a little too fast. “Yes.”

“Okay.”

There’s a moment of hesitation before Bill awkwardly points in the direction of the dorms and they start to walk. 

Chad is so nervous at this point, it’s unreal.

“So..”, Bill starts.

“We kissed”, Chad says.

“We did”, Bill agrees.

Chad nods. They did.

He is still not over it.

Also if Bill wants to, Chad would very much be down to repeat that.

Bill seems nervous and that’s actually kind of calming because then Chad is not the only one who is nervous.

Unless Bill is nervous because he doesn’t have feelings for Chad and doesn’t know how to say that, that would really suck.

But Chad is a rather optimistic person and also – he thinks – not that unlovable so would it really be that unlikely for Bill to like him back? At least a little?

“I, uh..”, Bill starts after a few seconds.

Then he proceeds to just stare at Chad instead of continuing to talk. He looks so helpless, like he wants to say things but doesn’t know how.

“I really like you”, Chad says, having decided to just put that out there and help Bill out of having to say things first.

“Oh”, Bill makes.

Then it’s quiet and Chad gets a feeling that Bill maybe doesn’t feel the same after all.

“I’m sorry”, he therefore adds.

“No, don’t be. _I’m_ sorry, I’m really bad at this.”

“This?”

“Telling people when I have feelings for them.”

Chad can’t help but smile.

“I’m people?”

“Yes. ..yeah.”

Chad grins and bites down on his bottom lip to not look too pleased but Bill has feelings for him, that are the best news ever.

“Okay”, Chad mumbles.

“Okay”, Bill says, a little chuckle in his voice. He sounds relieved, looks relieved in the way he’s smiling now.

Chad gently lets his hand bump into Bills, trying to make it feel like a coincidence but failing just a little.

Bill catches Chad’s hand in his and slips his fingers around the back of Chad’s hand to hold it.

It doesn’t take long for them to arrive at Chad’s door.

Chad is in the process of fumbling his keys out of his pocket when Bill carefully pulls him closer by tugging on his hand.

Not like he wants to kiss him, more like he’s trying to get his attention without using his words.

Chad looks up.

“Yes?”

“Are we dating? Or I mean.. do you want to date?”

Chad smiles. “Do you?”

“I asked first.”

“What is this? Kindergarten?”

Bill laughs quietly and tilts his head.

“Just answer.”

“Yes”, Chad says, “If you want to.”

“Yes. Yes yes yes”, Bill says, a bright smile forming on his lips and Chad can’t help but lean closer to kiss that smile.

He stops shortly before his lips can hit Bills.

“Can I?”, he asks.

“Yes”, Bill says again so Chad kisses him.

Bill let’s go of Chad’s hand to slip his arms around Chads waist instead and Chad fully turns to him now and wraps his arms around Bills neck.

They stand there and kiss for a while.

Chad pushes Bill against the wall next to his door eventually, not really out of a specific reason or while coherently thinking.

“Chad-“, Bill starts, then stops when they kiss again.

Chad pulls away after a few more kisses to let Bill speak.

He doesn’t though, he just ends up staring at Chad instead, looking nervous.

“Do you want to come inside?”, Chad asks because maybe talking and kissing there is more comfortable than standing in the corridor.

“Oh”, Bill says, “I..”

He hesitates, looking really uncomfortable suddenly and Chad slowly realises how that came across.

“Not for sex or anything!”, he quickly assures, “Just to hang out and maybe kiss a bit. I’m sorry, I mean, I don’t know if I’ll be ready for sex anytime soon anyway, maybe not ever actually, because it high-key still freaks me out and-“

“I’m ace”, Bill blurts out, interrupting Chad’s monologue.

“Oh”, Chad whispers.

He’s surprised but not in a negative way. It’s actually kind of relieving, he really was about to panic for a second there.

“You don’t want sex ever?”, he asks.

Bill shakes his head. “No.”

“Okay.”

“Is that okay?”

Chad nods. “Yes.”

“If you have a problem with it, that’s fine but.. please tell me now before you break up over it in a while.”

Chad shakes his head. “I don’t have a problem with it. Like at all.”

Bill smiles, looking relieved. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

“I would love to come in then.”

Chad smiles.

“Alright.”

He gets his keys now and unlocks the door, pushing it open for Bill to go inside first.

He follows Bill inside and hesitantly closes the door behind the two of them.

Chad slips out of his jacket and hangs it up, taking Bills to hang it up too after he took it off as well.

“By the way, you still have to show me how to get that eyeliner off”, Bill notes.

“Oh.” Chad smiles. “Yeah come with me.”

He reaches for Bills hand and leads him into the bathroom.

He gets some cotton pads and make up remover and prepares one for Bill.

“There you go. Just rub it over your eye until everything is gone.” He gestures over his own eye to show Bill, even though the instructions are probably rather clear.

“Okay”, Bill says and nods.

Chad hands the pad to him and goes on to prepare one for himself.

“Shit that burns”, Bill notes shortly after.

Chad looks up to see him struggle and laughs.

“You’re not supposed to put it _in_ your eye.”

“I know _that_.”

“Just.. gentle.”

“I am.”

“You’ll get used to it if you do this often enough.”

“This is pain.”

Chad laughs again and Bill chuckles along.

He leans into the mirror now to check his eye before he goes on to the other one and Chad slowly realises that he was about to take off his eyeliner too and should probably do that.

—

When they’re both done, they go lay down on Chad’s bed together, mostly to cuddle. Bill let’s his hand caress Chad’s shoulder and Chad closes his eyes, getting tired.

“Since when do you like me?”, he asks after a while. Because he really wants to know.

“God”, Bill mumbles, “I don’t even know. There were so many moments that made me fall a little deeper.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. But for the record, I thought you were the prettiest person I have ever seen right from the moment I first saw you.”

“Oh shut up”, Chad whispers and smiles nervously, all flustered.

“It’s true. Then we met in that diner, you know, with the group? I got so excited to see you there despite not even really knowing you.”

Chad smiles. “You were so nice there. Also, when you walked me to my room after the Mason thing.”

Bill smiles.

He turns his head to Chad now and their noses bump into each other. Bills eyes skip down to Chad’s lips for a moment and Chad can’t help but smile too. 

“Remember when we watched Cats at your place?”, Chad asks.

“Yeah.”

“You almost kissed me there, didn’t you?”

“What?”; Bill asks and laughs nervously. He turns his head away again.

“We almost kissed”, Chad repeats. He has been thinking about that moment forever, he just needs to know if Bill thought the same thing in that moment.

“Did we?”, Bill teases.

“You looked at my mouth like you did just now, I saw it.”

“It was an accident.”

“Sure.”

Bill looks back at Chad. His eyes fall on his lips immediately, he doesn’t even try to hide it.

“I thought about it. I wanted to”, he admits.

“I knew it.”

“Why didn’t you kiss me?”

“I don’t know, I was scared.”

“‘Me too.”

Chad moves closer to Bill. “Kissing is fine?”

“What?”

“Like for you? You just don’t want sex?”

Bill nods. “Yes, kissing is nice.”

“Okay.”

“Do you want to kiss?” A smile formed on Bills lips and Chad can’t help but smile too.

“Maybe”, he says.

Bill moves closer and closes the gap between their lips.

And for a while, it’s just the two of them. There are only their lips meeting over and over again and occasionally their teeth when they start to smile because this feels way too nice.

They kiss until they don’t and then they cuddle. And maybe they fall asleep holding each other after that.


	3. Frankie And Charlotte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is set at the party chapters 45-49 (but from Frankies POV)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:  
> \- alcohol  
> \- drugs (weed)  
> \- mention of throwing up  
> \- intoxication  
> \- homophobia  
> \- implied sexual content

Frankie is nervous about the party.

Not because Charlotte will be there and she’s in love with her or anything but that’s exactly what’s going on.

She makes Henry tell her that she looks good about ten times in an attempt to boost her confidence.

He does it but sounds a little bit more annoyed the more often she asks, so eventually she leaves him alone so he can panic about his own crushes and problems.

There’s a knock on the door when she’s in the process of putting on lipstick and she flinches, nearly fucking it up completely.

“What?”, she asks.

It’s Henry. “They’re here.”

Frankie nods lightly even though Henry can’t see that and takes a deep breath to calm herself down because this is fine anyway, everything is fine.

She gets up and hurries downstairs, slipping into her boots.

“Bye!”, she shouts to her parents, not waiting for an answer as she pulls the door shut behind herself.

Ted and Henry are already flirting on the backseat when Frankie slips into the car on the passengers’ side.

She’s just about to greet everyone when her eyes fall on Charlotte and she forgets how talking works.

Charlotte put on sparkly pink eyeshadow and her pretty curly hair is open, not tied back like usual.

She’s wearing a dress. It’s light blue and there are small white flowers all over it. It has spaghetti straps and Frankie ends up staring at Charlottes collarbones like a gay nun from the 1920s, having spotted just a little too much ankle.

Oh god.

“Hey”, Charlotte says with her sweet, soft voice. Frankie almost melts.

“Hi”, she says.

“Hey Frankie”, Ted says from the back.

Frankie just nods lightly to acknowledge him, still staring at Charlotte.

Charlotte blushes as if she wasn’t already cute enough.

“I should drive”, she says.

Frankie nods.

“Yeah, okay.”

Charlotte nods too and looks away, taking a breath before she starts the car.

Frankie can’t help but stare at her for the whole car ride.

She tries not to be too obvious about it because the last thing she wants to do is make Charlotte uncomfortable but good god, she’s beautiful.

Frankie barely even notices when Charlotte pulls over and says: “This is it, I think.”

Ted and Henry get out of the car but Charlotte doesn’t make a move so neither does Frankie.

Charlotte looks at her and blushes again.

“You look really pretty tonight, you know?”, she says.

“What?”, Frankie fumbles out, completely caught off guard. She’s glad that Ted and Henry already left the car because Henry would tease her about this forever.

“You always do, I mean”, Charlotte quickly says.

“You’re beautiful”, is all Frankie can think of to say, meaning it so much.

Charlotte smiles.

“Do you wanna go in?”

Frankie almost wants to say ‘no’, feeling the sudden need to just stay in that car with Charlotte forever.

“Yeah”, she says instead, gifting Charlotte a smile, “Let’s go.”

They get out of the car and follow Ted and Henry to the house. They’re just standing there, talking to a really pretty girl.

“Hi”, Frankie says, when they reach them.

“Hi”, the girl says, “I’m Bri.”

“Frankie”, Frankie says, “Henrys sister.”

“I’m Charlotte”, Charlotte introduces herself. “I think I know you from school. You were dating Ted, right?”

“Yeah.” Bri nods and smiles. “You guys wanna go inside? I can show you around a little.”

Ted nods, so they go inside.

Frankie barely listens when Bri starts to talk about the house because Charlotte came next to her and her hand bumped into Frankies (maybe on purpose?) and Frankie can’t stop thinking about that, just sinking deep into her thoughts now.

They end up near what looks like the living room.

There’s a dance floor, but no one is dancing.

Bri excuses herself and leaves and then Ted and Henry suddenly disappear too, though maybe they said where they were going and Frankie just wasn’t listening.

“Do you wanna drink something?”, Charlotte asks and Frankie nods.

“Sure.”

“Okay. I think drinks were over there.”

Charlotte reaches for her hand and carefully pulls her towards a table with drinks and snacks.

“Coke?”, Charlotte asks.

“Huh?”, Frankie makes absent-mindedly.

“-ca Cola?”, Charlotte adds.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Okay.”

Charlotte grabs two glass bottles and opens them before handing one to Frankie.

“Come on, lets see if we can find somewhere nice to sit.”  
  


* * *

  
They do find somewhere nice to sit.

And they sit there for a while, sipping on their drinks and listening to music and talking about insignificant things that feel significant because they’re talking about it to each other.

“Do you wanna dance?”, Charlotte asks eventually.

Frankie nods before she can really think about it. Charlotte puts her bottle down and gets up, reaching a hand out to Frankie to pull her up as well.

Frankie takes her hand and gets up, a little too caught up with staring at Charlotte to notice that she’s still holding her bottle. Charlotte already pulls her to the dance floor when Frankie spots the empty bottle in her own hand and quickly puts it down on some shelf.

Then she’s dancing with Charlotte and the music is loud and the beat is fast and steady but there Charlotte is, ignoring the beat and just pulling Frankie close.

Her hands slip into Frankie’s neck and Frankie finds herself reaching for Charlottes waist and pulling her closer.

Neither of them talk, they just sway slowly, the pop music fading out in their minds.

Frankie steps closer, just a little.

She can feel Charlottes fingers gently dig into her waist and takes a breath, trying to get some courage from god knows where.

When she finally manages to lean closer, Charlotte pulls back.

She nervously looks at the people around them and Frankie slowly remembers that they’re very much not the only people in the world.

“Let’s go somewhere else”, Charlotte says. 

She doesn’t wait for an answer, instead she reaches for Frankie’s hand and pulls her away.

She carefully opens a random door, peeking in and after she insured herself that no one is in there, she leads Frankie inside.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable”, Frankie immediately blurts out.

“No it’s okay.”

“I just.. you’re, uh..”

Why is she like this now? She’s usually better at articulating herself, she’s usually more confident than that but suddenly she’s pulling a Henry.

Suddenly she’s at a loss for words and overthinking, there’s so much overthinking.

“I like you”, Charlotte says.

“What?”

“I mean-.. I.. no, yes, I do.”

“I like you too.”

Then it’s quiet.

A smile spreads over Charlottes lips and she asks: “ _Like_ -like?”

Frankie nods, her face feeling hot and her heart beating fast.

“Oh.”

“Is that okay?”

“Yes, I just.. sorry.” Charlotte awkwardly gestures at the bed in the middle of the room and walks towards it to sit down on the floor in front of it.

Frankie follows her and sits down as well.

“Sorry, did I do something wrong?”, she asks.

“No! This just happened so fast, I need a second to process it.”

“Oh. We can go slow. We don’t have to kiss or do anything. I just wanted to ask if you-“

“Can we kiss? I’d love to kiss you.”

“Yeah- Yes? Yes”, Frankie clumsily fumbles out.

“I just didn’t want to do it in front of all these people but now we’re alone and..”

Frankie nods. “Okay.” She nods again and hesitantly pushes herself closer to Charlotte.

There’s a blush covering Charlottes cheeks and there’s a sparkle in her eyes as she glances down to Frankie’s lips and lingers there for just a little too long.

She reaches for Frankie’s face and gently cups it in her hands as she leans closer. Her eyes flutter shut shortly before their lips meet and Frankie smiles and closes her eyes as well, as she lets their lips melt into each other.

It feels so nice.

It feels so so so so _so_ nice.

Kissing girls truly is something, Frankie should have done this do much earlier. She doesn’t want to be dramatic but that kiss is the best thing that ever happened to her.

They pull apart shortly afterwards, a prominent smile on both of their lips.

Charlotte leans towards her again and Frankie pulls her close, reaching for her waist this time and really leaning into it.

The second kiss is not as shy anymore. Charlotte tugs on Frankies dungarees and pulls her closer that way. Frankie finds herself climbing halfway on top of Charlotte and swinging her leg over her lap.

She can’t help herself and goes on to kiss Charlottes neck after a while, down to the collarbones, she couldn’t take her eyes off earlier.

Charlotte gasps quietly and lets her hands curl into Frankies hair so Frankie goes on for a while longer.

She smiles when she notices the purple spots her lipstick left on Charlottes pale skin.

Her teeth hit Charlottes neck and Charlotte chuckles quietly. “What?”

“Sorry, I just..” Frankie pulls back and sees that it’s not just Charlottes neck that’s covered in lipstick but her face too. It’s kind of hot, Frankie thinks.

“Sorry, I left lipstick all over you”, she quietly apologises nonetheless.

Charlotte grins. “I don’t care.”

“Huh.” Frankie reaches for Charlottes neck to trace the visible trail of kisses with her finger.

Charlotte leans into her touch, only lightly but noticeable enough.

Frankie leans over for another kiss and that’s when the door swings open and loud music enters the room.

Charlotte and Frankie fall apart and when they look at who it is that’s disturbing them, they find Henry in the doorway, equally as overwhelmed by the whole situation.

“Fuck, sorry”, he mumbles, after an uncomfortable silence that stretched on for ages.

“Please don’t be mad”, Charlotte mutters.

Frankie frowns, because why would Henry be mad?

“What?”, Henry asks, confused as well.

“She’s your sister, I figured you’d be mad.”

“Oh shit”, Henry utters. “No.”

“I-..”

“It’s okay. I’m just really overwhelmed right now.”

And the whole situation is so awkward and embarrassing that Frankie can’t help but smile. How could she possibly stay serious? All of this is so unnecessarily weird.

Henry lightly shakes his head at her.

“I’m sorry for barging in”, he then says and finally reaches for the door to leave.

“Are you alright?”, Charlotte asks.

“Yes! Yes, sorry, go on.”

He leaves and closes the door behind himself and they’re alone again.

It’s dead quiet for a while. And because Frankie is Frankie and she can’t handle weird situations without bursting in inappropriate laughter, she starts to laugh.

“Frankie!”, Charlotte mutters warningly but there’s a smile on her face and shortly afterwards she’s laughing too.

“Why would he be mad?”, Frankie asks.

“I don’t know! I panicked, it was so awkward.”

“He was so overwhelmed, I almost feel sorry for him.”

“Do you think he was alright?”

“Sure, why?”

“I don’t know, he was acting weird.”

“Probably just because he saw his sister smooch someone.”

“Probably.”

Frankie watches Charlotte as she absentmindedly reaches for her face and checks for lipstick.

“Wait, let me help you”, Frankie says.

She pushes herself up on her knees and reaches in one of the front pockets of her dungarees to get some make-up remover wipes.

“Woah where did these come from?”, Charlotte blurts out, obviously in awe of how many good pockets Frankies outfit provides. Frankie would lie if she said she doesn’t wear dungarees for that specific reason. Bringing a bag is always kind of annoying because you have to remember to carry it with you at all times. So dungarees it is.

“Brought some, in case I get sick of wearing lipstick”, Frankie explains quietly as she takes one out of the package.

She reaches for Charlottes face to steady it and then wipes the lipstick stains off of her, as gently as she possibly can.

Charlotte watches her through it all and her smile grows brighter as the seconds pass.

“What?”, Frankie asks, hoping she doesn’t blush.

“I can’t believe I just kissed you.”

“Do you wanna do it again?”

“Maybe. I’ve been wanting to do it since the first time I saw you.”

“Really?”

Charlotte nods. “I was very in denial about it but yes.”

“I think we should kiss again then.”

“Yes, it’s only reasonable.”

Frankie chuckles and quickly takes her own lipstick off as well, to prevent more lipstick stains. Then she gets up to throw away the purple stained wipes. On her way back to Charlotte, she fumbles her chapstick out of another pocket and puts it on.

“You really thought to bring everything, didn’t you?”, Charlotte asks.

Frankie laughs and settles down next to her. “Do you want some too?”

“Yes”, Charlotte says and leans closer to kiss Frankie just as Frankie is about to hand it to her.

Frankie smiles against Charlottes lips and drops the chapstick back in her pocket.

* * *

They have been alone for maybe forty minutes when the door opens again. They’re not kissing anymore so it’s not as awkward. They’re just sitting there, sitting close.

This time the person walking in is not Henry and instead Ted.

“Oh”, he says, “hey, have you seen Henry?”

“Yeah, he came in here a while ago”, Frankie answers.

Ted seems all upset, which is worrying. He looks like he’s trying to hide it but his eyes skip over the room and outside of it nervously and his hands seem a little shaky. Frankie doesn’t know him that well but she has never seen him like that.

“How long ago?”

“Like.. half an hour? Forty minutes?”

“Shit.”

“Are you okay- is he okay?”, Frankie asks, getting concerned now.

She gets up and so does Charlotte.

“I don’t know, we lost him”, Ted says and his voice breaks a bit, audible enough for Frankie to genuinely consider giving him a hug.

“Hey”, Charlotte says softly. She comes towards him and reaches for his hands. “Take a breath.”

“I fucked up”, Ted mutters, “shit, I-“

“What happened?”

“I think he hates me.”

“He would never”, Frankie chimes in.

“He was-.. he was there and then he wasn’t. He’s really drunk, did I mention that? He’s drunk as fuck.”

“I’m sure he’s alright”, Frankie says, even though she’s getting concerned too. Henry has never been drunk, as far as she knows, so something must have happened. “We can help you look for him.”

“Sure?”

“Yes, come on”, Charlotte says as she leads him back outside.

They end up splitting up and Frankie searches through the crowd on the dance-floor for a while. She’s rather unsuccessful until she runs into Ted and he tells her that Brianna just texted him that she saw Henry go upstairs.

“She already followed, are you coming?”, he asks.

And Frankie just nods and follows him.

She’s not exactly sure what happens next. It’s this whole thing and it’s a mess. Henry was in there with some guy, making out according to Brianna. Frankie loses track of what’s happening when Brianna accuses Henry of cheating on Ted because as far as Frankie knows, Ted and Henry are very much not dating. Ted confirms her shortly afterwards, they’re not dating.

It was probably just a huge misunderstanding, Frankie is sure that there’s some kind of explanation for all of it but also her head is fuming and she’s too confused to try and figure it out.

Henry disappears in the bathroom, probably to puke and Ted follows and then Frankie is alone with Brianna and the guy her brother was just about to fool around with.

Needless to say, it’s rather awkward.

“Shit”, Brianna says after a while.

“ _Are_ they dating?”, they guy asks.

“I thought they were”, Brianna admits.

“I don’t think so”, Frankie mumbles.

“Sorry, who.. who are you?”, the guy asks. He looks so confused, Frankie genuinely feels bad for him. He also looks very drunk, if he’s lucky, he won’t even remember all of this in the morning.

“Frankie, Henrys sister.”

“Oh. Hi, I’m Stu.” He waves awkwardly.

Frankie hesitates for a moment, trying her best to figure out where she heard that name before. She’s sure that she heard it just earlier.

“Wait, you live here?”, she blurts out, when she remembers.

He nods. “Yes.”

“Shit.”

He chuckles.

“Sorry about my brother”, Frankie notes because it’s not like Henry is going to apologise, considering the state he’s in.

“He, uh.. it’s fine.”

“I should go look for him.”

Stu nods lightly, so she excuses herself and follows Henry and Ted into the bathroom.

“Henry?”, she asks, as she enters the room. It smells like puke in there and a part of her wants to just leave again.

But she’s worried and it’s her brother, after all.

Henry is sitting next to the toilet and Ted is still standing near the door.

“I’m fine”, Henry says.

“No you’re not”, Frankie says.

“I just wanna be alone, leave me alone.”

Frankie hesitates, unsure if she should call their parents. She doesn’t know the Henry sitting there. He looks horrible, in the way he’s leaning there next to the toilet bowl, his cheeks thick with tears, full offense. It scares her to see him like that, she doesn’t know what to do at all.

Thankfully, Ted turns to her shortly afterwards.

“Hey Franks, can you get him some water? Maybe something to eat?”, he asks.

Frankie nods numbly and leaves again, closing the door behind herself.

Stu and Brianna are gone when she leaves the bathroom and she doesn’t see them as she stumbles down the stairs and through the crowd to the food table either.

“There you are!” She flinches when Charlotte grabs her shoulder and turns her around.

“Hey”, she fumbles out, relieved to see Charlotte because seeing her actually makes Frankie feel better.

“Are you okay? Did you find him?”

Frankie nods. “Yeah, he uh.. he’s pretty drunk.”

“Is he okay?”

“I’m not sure, he just threw up.”

“Oh god.”

“Yeah, we found him in the bedroom upstairs with a guy.”

Charlotte gasps and her hand flies up to cover her mouth.

“What’s good food for drunk people?”, Frankie mumbles, more to herself than to Charlotte.

“Something dry and salty, I think. I can go get a bottle of water.”

Frankie looks up at Charlottes worried expression and relaxes a little.

“Would you?”, she asks.

Charlotte nods. “Yes, I’ll be right back. Wait here.”

Then – in a moment of hesitation slayed by determination – she leans towards Frankie and places a kiss on her cheek.

She disappears in the crowd and there Frankie is, still worried about Henry but her heart feeling a little bit warmer again.

She slowly gathers herself and turns to the snack table. She settles on grabbing the next best bowl of salty crackers she can find and kidnaps it. Charlotte comes back soon afterwards and hands Frankie a bottle of water. 

“There you go.”

“Thank you. I should bring that upstairs.”

Charlotte nods but Frankie stays there.

“Are you alright?”, Charlotte asks.

“Yeah, I just.. don’t want to leave you standing here.“

“It’s okay.” She smiles. “I’ll wait for you. Maybe we can continue ..talking later.”

Frankie finds herself blushing at that.

“Yeah- yes?”

Charlotte nods and chuckles.

“I’ll see you.”

“I’ll come back soon.”

She nods again and Frankie gestures towards the stairs with the bottle in her hand before she gifts Charlotte one last smile and leaves.

* * *

When she comes back, both – Ted and Henry – are sitting on the floor.

It turns out that Henry is not only drunk but also high and at this point, Frankie doesn’t even know what to think anymore.

Henry drinks some of the water and Ted even manages to make him eat something. Then they just kind of wait it out, hoping for Henry to calm down a bit.

Frankie texts Charlotte through it all, keeping her updated while yearning to be with her again.

A part of her feels like she should focus on Henry more but Ted is with him and what is she supposed to do on top of sitting there and waiting for him to come back to earth from whatever drunken cloud he’s on?

He calms down after about half an hour.

Ted and Frankie settled on walking Henry to his and Ted’s dorm, after Henry noted that he doesn’t want to throw up in Charlottes car and Ted and Frankie both agreed that that would suck.

They manoeuvre Henry downstairs and out of the house where Emma, Paul and Charlotte are waiting.

“Hey”, Charlotte says.

Emma smiles.

“How was it?”, she asks Henry.

“Not as good as your weed will be”, Henry says.

“Duh.”

“I can drive you”, Charlotte notes.

Henry shakes his head and Frankie quickly explains that Henry might throw up in Charlottes car and no one wants that.

“Oh, well. I can drive you at least?”, Charlotte goes on, her eyes boring into Frankies, all hopeful.

Frankie can’t even put into words how bad she wants to leave with her.

Is this selfish?

She should probably come with Henry and make sure he’s okay.

But Ted is with him, right? What is she supposed to do in their dorm room anyway? It’s not like there’s space for her to stay there over night and how is she supposed to get home then?

Frankie turns to Henry and Ted to ask and Henry nods before she can even open her mouth.

“I’ve got him, go with her”, Ted says

Frankie can’t help but smile.

The night might be set to end nicely after all.

“We can help you guys”, Paul offers.

“I’m literally fine”, Henry says but Frankie can see that that’s a lie. If Ted wasn’t holding him up, he would probably just fall over.

“I can just walk him, that’s fine”, Ted says.

“Are you sure?”, Paul asks.

Ted nods and so does Henry.

“Okay then”, Emma says.

“I can drive you guys”, Charlotte offers.

Paul waves her off.

“I drove us here and I didn’t drink anything.”

“Okay, then it’s just us”, Charlotte says and she reaches for Frankies hand.

She just reaches for Frankies hand and holds it and Frankie almost dies.

They say their goodbyes and then they finally leave and Frankie feels just a little guilty, leaving Henry behind like that.

She’ll care about him in the morning, for now it’s just Charlotte and her. 

Charlotte unlocks her car when they reach it and they sit inside.

She doesn’t start to drive, they just sit there in silence, letting the events of the night sink in.

“Are you okay?”, Charlotte asks after a while.

Frankie nods. “Yeah. Are you?”

Charlotte nods too.

“Okay”, Frankie mumbles.

It’s quiet again.

If Frankie is being honest, she really doesn’t want to go home.

She desperately wants to spend some more time with Charlotte, just a few more hours.

“Do you want to go to the lake?”, Charlotte asks.

“Yes”, Frankie blurts out, before she can really think about it. But yes, she does. Yes yes yes yes yes.

Charlotte smiles.

“Okay”, she says and starts the car.

* * *

She stops the car on the grass right at the lake and pulls the handbrake.

“There we are”, she says quietly.

“Yeah”, Frankie agrees.

“Do you wanna go sit outside?”

“I’d love to.”

“Yes?”

Frankie nods.

Charlotte gets out of the car first and Frankie copies her.

Charlotte goes for the trunk as Frankie awkwardly waits next to the passengers door, unsure about where they’re going to sit. Charlotte gets a blanket from the trunk and passes Frankie on her way to the hood of the car. She reaches out to her for a moment and her fingers brush Frankies arm.

Then she climbs on the hood of the car and pats the spot next to herself so Frankie joins her.

“Come closer”, Charlotte says quietly, as she spreads out the blanket and wraps it around their backs.

Frankie can’t help but smile as she pushes herself closer to Charlotte, close enough for their bare shoulders to touch.

It’s quiet as soon as they settled there, sitting close and comfortable.

Frankie looks at the lake because she doesn’t want to make Charlotte uncomfortable by staring at her too much. It’s not Frankies fault that Charlotte looks so beautiful, especially in the moonlight, but the lake is alright too, she supposes. It’s quite pretty how the silvery light of the moon reflects on the calm dark water. Not as pretty as Charlotte but truly something.

“Are you sure you're alright?”, Charlotte asks.

“Yeah, sure, why?”

“Because of the whole Henry thing. I don’t know.”

“Ted is with him, he’ll be fine.”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry for leaving you alone earlier.”

“No it’s all good. I found Emma and Paul rather quickly so I wasn’t that alone.”

“Where were they?”

“They came out of some bathroom. I don’t even want to know what they did in there.”

Frankie laughs and grimaces. “Oh no.”

Charlotte smiles.

She reaches for Frankies hand now and takes it, interlocking their fingers like it’s nothing. It’s everything, to Frankie. She really hopes Charlotte feels the same.

“When do you have to be home?”, Charlotte asks.

“Uh, it doesn’t matter. My parents didn’t set a curfew.”

“God, you’re parents are cool.”

“When do you have to be home?”

“In five minutes, to be honest.”

“What?" Frankie sits up. "We should go now then.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“I don’t want you to get into trouble because of me.”

“I don’t care about my mom, she’s mad about everything I do anyway.”

“Are you sure?”

“I just want to be with you right now, is that okay?”

Frankie nods hesitantly. “Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Are you-.. your mom, she’s.. Are you alright?”

Charlotte shrugs and nods.

“She doesn’t know I’m gay, neither does my dad. I can’t tell them.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“She’s pretty christian. Like the homophobic kind that completely misinterpreted the bible. My dad isn’t as bad but he also never stands up to her.”

“Shit.”

Charlotte nods. “Shit”, she repeats.

“I’m sorry that she is like that.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Yeah I know but..”

“Besides, you’re supporting my silent riot so thanks for that.”

Frankie smiles. “How?”

“By kissing me. If my mom knew I kissed a girl for quite a few minutes tonight..” She trails off as she lets her thumb run over the back of Frankies hand.

“Well you’re very welcome”, Frankie says jokingly, trying her best to deal with Charlotte holding her hand like she does.

She pulls Charlottes hand up to her lips to kiss her knuckles.

“Do you wanna stop talking about my mom now and watch the stars instead?”, Charlotte asks quietly.

“Okay.” Frankie nods.

Charlotte pushes herself closer to Frankie and cuddles against her as they let themselves sink back against the windshield. And then they lay there, bundled up under the blanket and staring at the stars.

They talk more, about unimportant things mostly. They talk about what kind of life they want after they finished college and how many cats should be the minimum in one household. They talk about their favourite cakes and their favourite books and they talk about things they don’t like, like Adam Sandler movies or capitalism.

And about an hour later they’re kissing again.

It gets colder and Frankie very much notices that and maybe she’s shivering a little but kissing Charlotte feels too nice to interrupt it for the sake of getting a jacket.

Charlotte is the one who pulls away after a while.

“Do you wanna go inside?”, she asks and Frankie agrees.

They don’t sit in the front where it’s hard to keep kissing, instead Charlotte folds down the backseats and puts the blanket over the newly won space before they climb in through the trunk, closing it behind themselves.

And there they lay then, cuddling and kissing, kissing a lot.

Frankie isn’t even sure how she got to the point in her life where she’s kissing the prettiest girl she has ever seen in the back of a car in the middle of the night but there she is and she’s certainly not going to complain.

She can feel Charlottes hand tugging on the strap of her dungarees after a while and she helps her by pulling her arm out of it and pushing the other one down as well.

It sacks down to her waist and Charlottes hand finds its way underneath Frankie top rather quickly.

She pulls away for a moment to ask if Frankie is okay with that and all Frankie can do it nod and mutter a hoarse ‘yes’.

It almost drives her insane, Charlottes hand on her skin, gliding over her rips and up and down her back.

After a while, Frankie pulls away from the kiss to take off her top. Charlotte sits up as much as she can without knocking her head on the roof of the car to give her some space. She doesn’t follow immediately when Frankie lays back down on her back, she just stares, her cheeks a deep pink.

Frankie chuckles. “What?”

“You’re so beautiful, I can’t handle that.”

Now Frankie is blushing too. “Just come here.”

Charlotte does come closer but stops before their lips can connect again.

“I’ve never had a girl undress for me”, she admits quietly.

“I can take off more”, Frankie fumbles out.

Charlotte smiles.

“Yeah?”, she just whispers before she kisses Frankie again and Frankie once again forgets how to think.

This is so nice. It’s new because she never did all these things with a girl but it feels so good.

She lets her hand glide over Charlotte back, looking for the zipper of her dress before finding it on the side. She stops before pulling it down and pulls away from the kiss to ask. Charlotte says ‘yes’ before Frankie can even form the question and kisses her again so Frankie pulls down the zipper.

Charlottes skin is so soft underneath.   
Charlotte slips out of the dress and lets the light fabric fall down to her hips. And there she is then, on top of Frankie in her bra and to her own embarrassment, Frankie ends up staring for a solid few seconds.

She pulls Charlotte down to herself and kisses her, before gently pushing back her shoulder and rolling the two of them over so Charlotte is on her back.

She lets her lips descend into Charlottes neck and down to her décolleté.

“Frankie?”, Charlotte whispers eventually, after Frankies lips already got down to her belly.

Frankie stops and looks up. “Yes?”

Charlotte props herself up on her elbows to look at her. “Do you want to do this?”, she asks, “do you want..?” She blushes.

Frankie nods. She was just in the process of kissing her way down Charlottes belly with the destination being right between Charlottes legs and she can’t deny that now, can she?

“Do you?”, she asks.

“Yes”, Charlotte says almost immediately. “I just wanted to make sure you..”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Okay.” Charlotte smiles.

Frankie comes back up to Charlotte to place one or more kisses on her mouth before she helps her fully get out of the dress.

* * *

They cuddle afterwards, having gotten only halfway dressed again, mostly for warmth. Charlottes head is resting on Frankies bare shoulder and Frankie never wants the night to end.

It does end though, when they inevitably fall asleep there.

* * *

Charlotte wakes her up rather early. The sun hasn’t risen yet but Charlotte seems panicked so Frankie quickly sits up.

“What?”, she fumbles out.

“I have to be home before my parents wake up.”

“Shit”, Frankie whispers and quickly pulls on the rest of her clothes.

They climb out of the trunk and Frankie folds the blanket as Charlotte unfolds the backseats. 

“I can take the bus home if you-“, Frankie starts.

“No I’ll drive you.”

“It’s a pretty big detour.”

“I don’t want to say goodbye yet.”

Frankie hesitates but gives in and gets into the car on the passengers side.

Charlotte then proceeds to drive her all the way home.

“Can I call you?”, Charlotte asks, shortly before they arrive in Frankies street.

“Of course.” Please do, Frankie thinks. “I might call you too.”

Charlotte smiles.

“Maybe we can meet again, you know.. just the two of us?”

“I’d love that.”

“Okay.” Charlotte looks almost relieved.

She pulls over at the side of the road in front of Frankies house. There’s a light on in the kitchen so either someone is awake or Frankies dad left it on for her and Henry.

Frankie quickly leans over to Charlotte and presses a kiss on her cheek before she reaches for the handle and opens the door.

“Be safe okay? And call me.”

Charlotte nods and smiles brightly.

“I will. Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

Frankie climbs out and closes the door.

She waves at Charlotte one last time and Charlotte waves back and blows a kiss, then she drives off.

Frankie watches her car disappear behind a building before she turns away and goes inside.


End file.
